It's a Kanji Character "変＝hen" that meaning includes "change" and "strange".
This Kanji character is wrote by head priest of Kiyomizu temple at Kyoto.

The Kanji of the year is a kanji chosen by the Japanese Kanji Proficiency Society (財団法人日本漢字能力検定協会 Zaidan hōjin Nihon Kanji Nōryoku kentei kyōkai) through a national ballot in Japan. The character with the most votes is selected to represent the events of that year, and is announced in a ceremony on December 12 (Kanji Day) at Kiyomizu Temple.

The "変" character are symbolic of a climatic change, success of Mr.Obama and ironical meaning that easy to change prime Minster of Japan.

We want to change among good way next year.